Sliding door consisting of one of several separate doors

ABSTRACT

A sliding door comprising several doors supported at their upper edges in slideways which have upward and inward directed guides for pegs of the door supports so that a respective door may be lifted and laterally displaced to permit another door to be moved along the same slideway passed the displaced door.

United States Patent Makela Nov. 6, 1973 [54] SLIDING DOOR CONSISTING OFONE OF 3,571,976 3/1971 Schmid 49/130 SEVERAL SEPARATE DOORS 1,996,3104/1935 Skoogh v 3,280,506 10/1966 Sandek et a1. 49/130 [76] Inventor:Leo Makela, Vesivehmaa, Finland [22] Filed: Sept 8, 1971 PrimaryExaminer-Kenneth Downey Attorney-Kurt Kelman [21] Appl. No.: 178,593

' [57] ABSTRACT [52] U.S. Cl. 49/130 A sliding door comprising severaldoors supported at [51 lnt. Cl E05d 15/20 their upper edges in slidewayswhich have upward and [58] Field of Search 49/128, 130, 148 inwarddirected guides for pegs of the door supports so that a respective doormay be lifted and laterally dis- [56] References Cited placed to permitanother door to be moved along the UNITED STATES PATENTS same slidewaypassed the displaced door.

1,266,922 5/1918 Criswell 49/130 4 Claims, 17 Drawing Figures in A 9 I*1- 2 8 I t i I P 111 III! llll I I I I l I l l l I rl l i I l I I I I 1l l l v r I E I I PATENTEDMW 6l975 3,769,749 SHEET 10F 5 PATENTFUNIW6l975 3.769.749

sum 20F sl PATENTED NEW 6 I973 SHEET 3 or s I Ila-IL nul SLIDING DOORCONSISTING OF ONE OF SEVERAL SEPARATE'DOORS This invention relates to asliding door assembly corisisting of one or several separate doors, inwhich the door or doors can be moved along a slideway by means of asupporter fitted to the upper door edge. In known devices, adjacentslide doors have separate tracks, these being fitted side by side, whichessentially broadens the structure or diminishes the amount of usefulspace. The purpose of the present invention is to overcome this drawbackof prior art devices by providing a sliding door system, in whichseparate doors'can be moved along the same slideway, pa'ssing'by eachother. It also provides another advantage in that the doors,

when closed, are situated at wall level in the supporting structure.when the doors are closed they gap tightly and form a continuousstraight surface with the wall.

The present invention is implemented in that upwards and inwardsdirected guiding devices are set in the door gaps in the slideway forreceiving pegs fitted to the door supporters which guide it sidewardsaway from the slideway when the door is lifted. Thus, a second door canpass by a first door along the same slide way. At least two supportersare attached to the upper edge of each'door in the ordinary manner. Thesupporters have an upper end which is bent backwards to form a hook tofit to the groove of the slideway. The head of the hook is provided withknown slide pieces, rollers and similar elements to facilitate movement.The slideway itself it attachedwith screws, bolts and other similarfasteners to the wall of a supporting structure. Above the slide surfaceand parallel to it is fitted an upper barrier wall surface suitably madeto form one piece with the slide groove. The slide groove and upperbarrier wall surface are joined together by an upright flange. The wholestructure is most simply made ofa suitable profile as desired. Thebarrier surface prevents the supporting hook that moves sideways in theslide groove from disengaging and moving over the slide groove. Openingsare at suitable places on the barrier surface, in which the supportinghooks can go up and to the fro n sideas a result of this movement, thedoor moves upward and away from the slideway. The opening in the barriersurface is provided with a flange which goes upward and forwardadvantageously at an angle of about 45 The flange is fitted to thelongitudinal outer edge of the opening. The other edge of the guidingflange is made longer and this extension is bent backwards so as to beparallel to the flange Thus, the peg of the supporter of the dooreasilygoes between this chamber. The length of the extension is about the sameas the upward directed breadth of the flange, but made such that theupright supporting hook with its pegs cannot fall out of the channelformed by the extension and the slide groove of the inner edge.

When the door is moved in the slidegroove to the door opening, so thatthe supporting hook with its horizontal and sidewards reaching pegsattached to its upper part is at the opening made to the barriersurface. The door is lifted upwards, whereat the upper part of thesupporter slides along the flange rising upwards from the barriersurface until the peg of the supporter reaches the curve of the flangeextension; which stops. The hoisting movement. Owing to the incline, thedoor also moves forward during the lifting, so that due to the suitablydimensioned parts of the flange and supporters, it has come to the doorgap and at the same time 2 so much forward that the adjacent door asenough space to pass the lifted door in the slideway. When the door isin an inclined position during the lifting, the backwards bent part ofthe flange extension prevents the supporter or the peg of the supportinghook from releasing from the channel. The lifting can be done simply byhand lifting the door, e.g., by' hand grasping holes made for fingers.Heavier doors require a special lifting mechanism which may be simplymade of shaft fitted next to the lower edge of the door. The shaft isprovided with lever handles which extend to holes in the door and underthe lower edge of the door. Thus by turning a crank attached to theshaft when the-door is open, the nearly horizontalhandles turn nearly toa vertical position over a dead point. Simultaneously the door movesupward and forward in the provided channel. A bar is placedadvantageously for pivotal movement by the handle. The bar is moresturdy than the handle grasps lower surface of the bar may be joined byflanges to an axle or shaft portion. The shaftis advantageously fastenedwith hearings to the door frames. The frames are made of angularsections.

In order to illustrate the invention, references are made to theaccompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of aprior art sliding door structure; O

FIG. 1A is a partial side elevational view taken along section linesIA-IA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of a sliding door structureincluding supportbars;

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of a sliding door structure of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3A is, a partial side elevational view taken along section linesIIIA-IIIA of FIG. 3;

F IG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the sliding door structure ofthis invention prior to door lifting;

FIG. 4A is a partial side elevational view taken along section linesIVA-IVAjof FIG. 4; 4 FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of the slidingdoor structure of this 'inventien with the door in'lifted position; 1

FIG. 5Ais a partial side sectional view of the structureof FIG. 5 takenalong section. lines VAVA;'

FIG."'6 is a front elevational view of a pair of doors inassociation'with the sliding door structure of this invention; i

FIG. 6A is a partial side sectional view taken along section linesVIA-VlAbf FIG. 6;

FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of a lifting mecha- 'provided withthe door structure of the present invention. I

In the drawings, supports 2 are attached to the upper edge of the slidedoor 1 by any suitable means. The.

upper ends of the supports are bent back to form a part 6 which isparallel to the support Part 6 is provided slidepieces, rollers and thelike disposed for moving the support in the slide groove 4 along thesurface 3'along with facilitating elements. Above the slide groove thereis a barrier surface 5 which is joined by flange 8 of the slide grooveto form one piece structure. In the present structure, openings 20 aremade in the barrier surface to the longitudinal outer edge of which theguiding flange 9 is disposed at an angle of about 45. The other edge ofthe flange is extended with and extension 10, which is turned back to beroughly parallel with the flange. The supports 2 are provided with pegs7, attached at the upper part of the fold. Pegs 7 are fitted formovement into the split between the guiding flange 9 and extension 10.The length of the opening 20 is at least as long as the total length ofthe support 2 and the length of the outstanding part of the peg. Thelower edge 11 of the extension is bent a little away from the slideway.I

The supports '2 and opening 20 are fitted so that when the said partsare opposite each other such as illustrated in FIG. 4 the door is in thedoor gap of the wall. When the door 2 is pushed upwards, the upper edgeof the supporter hits the guiding flange 9 and slides along it until thepeg 7 stops the movement in the curve between the extension 10 and theflange 9. Because of the incline of the surface 9, the support and withit also the door move outward. In the event the door is kept in anupright position, it moves altogether away from the slideway 4, so thata second door moving in the same slideway can be transferred on its ownsupports 2 along the slidesurface 3 past the uplifted door. The door gapis advantageously fitted so that the door when lifted up and when comingto its end position will fill the door gap at the same time. By movingthe lower end of the door downwards, the peg 7 is made to move thesupport again back to the slide groove 4 by guiding along extension 10.

The door can'be simply lifted manually by grasping the holes made forfingers such as splits 12. The door can be also lifted by means ofalever mechanism which is especially useful in heavier doors. The exampleshaft 13, which can be turned by a crank 14, is attached with bearing tothe door frams l7. Handles 15 are attached to the shaft 13, the ends ofwhich are suitably joined with a bar 16. This part 16 fits to the loweredge of the door 1 in the groove of fram 18, so that when the crank isturned, the lower end moves in the grasp of the bar is opened. A spacecorresponding to the distance the door is lifted must be left betweenthe peg 7 and the curve of the extension 10. The door may includefurther elements such as locks, handles and the like provided they donot interfere with normal door moving and lifting as noted previously.When the door is in position in the slideway 4, it is dependent on thesupports 2. Its lower end is free but the lifting bar 16 can guide it ora projecting bump molding 21 in lateral direction. Transferable elementsof the upper part are again protected by a flange 8 which hides theelement 16 within the wall structure.

The invention is particurlarly suitable for use in trucks but it can ofcourse be applied to other constructions. The invention is thus notlimited to the embodiment presented. Many variations are possible withinthe following patent claims. Thus the lifting of the door can be done inmany other ways as for example, by providing the door with a horizontalhinge. Closing is effected by fittingthe lower edge of the door so todepend on the doorsill or the like and by pressing straight the parts ofthe door at the hinge, which form a projecting angle, so that thesupports of the upper end rise upwards in the above manner and the doorwill be out of the transfer way. To make sure that the door staysstraight it is provided e.g., with a suitable bolt to clasp the twohalves.

I claim:

1. A sliding door assembly which comprises in combination, at least twoseparate doors disposed slidable along an overhead slideway and disposedin a common plane when said doors are in the closed position, spacedhangers attached to each upper door edge, said spaced hangers eachhaving a longitudinally projecting peg element, andslideway having anupper barrier surface with spaced portions thereof removed, said re- Imoved portions coinciding with the spaced hangers, a

16 up and down and at the same time outward as is best illustrated inFIG. 8A. A beam is attached to the edge 19 of the platform. The uprightedge 21 outside the beam protects and guides the lower edge of doormoving in the slideway, at the same time as it prevents damage to thelever mechanism. In the FIGS. 7 and 8, the lever 14 is turned to itsupper position and the door 1 is in normal position. In the event thelever 14 is turned to the left, the lower end 1 of the door moves andlowers from upright position to the normal position presented in FIG. 8Ain broken lines. In normal position the peg 7 of the support of theupper end of the door has returned along the extension 10 downwardsuntil part I 6 finally returns to the guiding groove 4 where the door isagain movable in the slideway.

The closed door remains in the same place because the handles 15 areturned a little over their dead point,

whereat it is necessary to lift the door ,a little when it v guidingflange member and a return bent extension thereof, both disposed at anangle over the said removed portions and defining an inverted U-shapedchannel, means for lifting a door from the slideway and out of thecommon plane with projecting peg elements being received bycorresponding U-shaped channels, said means for lifting the doorsimultaneously displacing the door bottom and providing support for thedisplaced door whereby a door may be moved in said common plane alongthe slideway in the location where a second door. has been lifted and isin displaced position with peg elements of the second door within saidU-shaped channels.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein the door lift means are finger holesprovided in the door for manual displacement thereof.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the door lift means is a crank leverassembly disposed along the bottom edge of the door for lifting bypivotal movement and ground contact.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein the said projecting flange is atanangle of about 45 relative the barrier

1. A sliding door assembly which comprises in combination, at least twoseparate doors disposed slidable along an overhead slideway and disposedin a common plane when said doors are in the closed position, spacedhangers attached to each upper door edge, said spaced hangers eachhaving a longitudinally projecting peg element, and slideway having anupper barrier surface with spaced portions thereof removed, said removedportions coinciding with the spaced hangers, a guiding flange member anda return bent extension thereof, both disposed at an angle over the saidremoved portions and defining an inverted U-shaped channel, means forlifting a door from the slideway and out of the common plane withprojecting peg elements being received by corresponding Ushapedchannels, said means for lifting the door simultaneously displacing thedoor bottom and providing support for the displaced door whereby a doormay be moved in said common plane along the slideway in the locationwhere a second door has been lifted and is in displaced position withpeg elements of the second door within said U-shaped channels.
 2. Thestructure of claim 1 wherein the door lift means are finger holesprovided in the door for manual displacement thereof.
 3. The structureof claim 1 wherein the door lift means is a crank lever assemblydisposed along the bottom edge of the door for lifting by pivotalmovement and ground contact.
 4. The structure of claim 1 wherein thesaid projecting flange is at an angle of about 45* relative the barriersurface.